Blockchain and Elections: The Japanese, Swiss and American Experience

In late August, the Japanese city of Tsukuba trialed the use of blockchain technology in its voting system.

Agora had actually been observing the voting process and running an entirely separate blockchain trial alongside the election to illustrate how future elections could be carried out using the technology.

Keen to establish itself as a blockchain capital, the municipality allows payment in Bitcoin for services and recently completed a successful trial of blockchain voting.

The small-scale vote involved only 72 out of the 240 citizens with access to the online voting system, who participated in the non-binding trial vote between June 25 and July 1.

The Swiss News Agency writes that three people indicated that it was not easy to vote digitally, 22 responded that they would use blockchain for tax returns or surveys, 19 responded they would pay parking fees with their digital ID, and three said they would use it for borrowing library books.

West Virginia trials blockchain voting, but clouds threaten its blue sky thinkingWest Virginia is set to allow citizens serving in the armed services - along with other citizens living abroad - to vote via smartphone with an app called Voatz in November 2018.

The state successfully carried out a pilot in May.The recent fanfare over blockchain technology in voting procedures is being played out against a backdrop of scandal in relatively recent electoral history.

Although positive about the potential for blockchain technology to transform the voting process, the report concluded that blockchain needs to be comprehensively tested to take into account the cost and scale of wider implementation.

Marian K. Schneider, president of Verified Voting, also blasted the Voatz app, stating that it is less of a blockchain-based app and more of a standard mobile app with a blockchain attached.

"These were bored hackers," writes Schneier, "With no experience with voting machines, playing around between parties one weekend."